×

God’s Word contains a treasure trove of practical truths for those who genuinely believe it. When Paul talks about being “transformed by the renewing of our minds,” he is essentially presenting us with two rather simple options: conforming or transforming. We stare in a mirror every morning, carefully contemplating the image reflected before us, and we face a choice: will we conform to or be transformed by ourselves or God? And here’s the problem: we love the person staring back at us in that mirror! Whether through self-love or self-loathing, make no mistake, we are absolutely stoked with that beautiful mug smiling back at us, because no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it” (Eph. 5:29).

This is the dilemma of worship. It can’t help but infiltrate every aspect of our lives, especially on Sunday mornings when we purposefully come together to worship Christ corporately. We understand that worship on Sunday is a given—-it’s what we’re supposed to be doing—-but is worship actually happening?

Sunday Morning Sketch

Here’s how Sunday mornings played out in my house when I was a kid.

Mom woke us up early, which further emphasized the agonizing reality that we truly had one-day weekends. One of two things happened next: I used the rest of the hot water in the shower and promptly received 39 lashings, or waited for everyone else and experienced the joys of hypothermia at dawn. Dad woke up mad on Sundays because that’s what dads do when they have a family of six to get out the door on time, furthering the myth that every father has been born with some sort of short-temper disorder.

In the middle of this shining example of family togetherness, my brother would remain obliviously asleep, causing mom to march into his room for the 15th time, freezing wet towel in hand to rub violently all over his face, amid shrieking gasps and shocked outrage, even though this was a weekly occurrence. After five or six additional shouting matches, everyone piled in the car, a bell would ring, and my little brother and sister would begin round one of heavyweight in-car bickering.

This beautiful picture of sibling love continued all the way to the church parking lot, ending with dad, who “had enough,” maniacally waiving his hands and yelling like Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. We’d be greeted by a friendly, then frightened-looking parking attendant whom dad would almost sideswipe as he slid recklessly past, tires screeching, into one of the senior parking spots (after all, services had already started). We then shuffled out of the van, silently staring straight ahead as we stomped off to our respective pews to hear the worship leader excitedly encourage us to praise the One who is “great and greatly to be praised!”

Sure, we’ll get right on that.

Tune Out or Turn Over?

Sunday mornings can be miserably hard. The distractions and burdens we carry to the pews can be overwhelming, and then we expect to somehow shut it all down instantaneously. As a worship leader, I like to continually return to the idea that we gather on Sundays to proclaim the Word and magnify the Lord through Scripture and singing, even as we constantly face the dilemma of whether to engage in Christ or engage in our own, private worship services. It’s our natural tendency to be self-centered, self-seeking, and self-indulgent, completely engulfed by our own desires, distractions, and worries. We may be sitting in the pews, but we’re stirring inside, and our flesh continues to war against our spirit. Joshua faced this issue on a much grander scale when he asked the nation of Israel to “choose this day whom you will serve” (Josh. 24:15). The question is no less raw, gripping, and relevant for us at every minute of every day.

And it requires an answer.

Paul describes this barbaric, brutal tug of war when he says, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Rom. 7:15). We want turn things off on Sundays, but God wants us to hand things off to him. To deny life’s pressing issues only means those same issues will continually return to divide our hearts and minds. It’s not “tune out,” it’s “turn over”! “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22).

When is the last time we asked Jesus to start working that “turning over” process in our hearts well before Sunday arrives? We consider preparedness to be a virtue in every other walk of life—-how much more when it’s our hearts and minds at stake. The Lord will always care more about the focus of our worship than we ever will. So we can trust that he will faithfully prepare our hearts to put a greater focus on him if we ask for help to cast our burdens on him.

Before Sunday arrives this week, let’s examine who we’re worshiping. Are we conforming or transforming? Are we trying to turn things off instead of handing things over to Jesus? Regardless of the day of the week, we face the dilemma of whom we will serve and whether we are feeding those self-seeking desires of our flesh or being transformed by the renewal of our minds, that by testing we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?

In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
But the Gospels are historically reliable. And the evidence for this is vast.
To learn about the evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels, click below to access a FREE eBook of Can We Trust the Gospels? written by New Testament scholar Peter J. Williams.

Podcasts

LOAD MORE
Loading